JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
The graphics on the rear quarter panel of this race car anchored the theme behind yesterday morning's "Build the Track Motorshow" at Aloha Tower Marketplace, which showcased more than 50 sports cars and vehicles to build support for a new Hawaii racetrack.

Raceway addicts spin their wheels

With the Hawaii Raceway Park closed for more than a year, the only car Eric Alferes can drag-race is his RC Car -- a souped-up, little muffler-blaring thing of beauty that's a little longer than a ruler.

He races it with adults and children in parking lots. His Nissan 240SX sits in his garage while he waits for a racetrack on Oahu to open.

"It's something to do," said Alferes, who owns Advance Graphics, a store in Kakaako that sells the remote-controlled RC Cars for about $200 each. "Since we don't have a racetrack, we try to vent this way. To keep the hobby alive, I have to keep active somehow."

Racers of all kinds -- drag, road, motorcycle, kart -- and car show enthusiasts went to a Motorsports Show yesterday at Aloha Tower Marketplace hosted by Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council, one of two groups on the island trying to open a racetrack facility.

"Some people are paying a lot of money to ship their cars to the neighbor islands or to the mainland," said Michael Kitchens, president of the council. "And some are selling them flat out. We're trying to keep motor sports alive."

Kitchens' organization is trying to garner support for a new raceway facility to be built on a 138-acre plot in an area called Parcel 9 in Kalaeloa, the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station.

"If P-9 fails, we're going to find some other way," Kitchens said.

Requests for tax credits to help build the facility have been rejected by state legislators. However, Kitchens said a private developer has been talking to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Parcel 9's landowner, about a possible land swap.

Attempts to reach the private developer yesterday were unsuccessful.

Another Oahu group, Save Our Race Track, said it recently reached an agreement with DHHL to have a temporary 50-acre racetrack in Kalaeloa open within two months as it continues to fight to reopen the Hawaii Raceway Park's old site.

"This is fantastic for now," said Evelyn Souza, the group's spokeswoman. "In the long run, though, with some luck and a lot of prayer, we will have the racer back at home."

The temporary site will be located between Coral Sea and Tripoli, Souza said. It will have a dirt path first, she said, then the group hopes to have it paved.

Hawaii Raceway Park, which was just outside of Campbell Industrial Park, closed last year after the owner declined to renew the lease. Since then, individuals and groups have been searching the island for alternatives, though Souza said her group has its heart set on its home of 42 years.

The City Council introduced a resolution recently that would have the city condemn the property of Hawaii Raceway Park and have it reopened as a racetrack.